Posts tagged Erg Ubari

The Haruj Volcanic field appears as a circular, dark brown area in the upper right quadrant of this image of Libya. Although the field comprises multiple lava flows, one particularly large one can be seen on the western side of the field, spreading towards the town of Al Fuqahā’.

The rest of the image includes brown mountain ridges, tan desert, and orange sandy desert. Two large ergs (seas of sand dunes) can be observed west of the Haruj, separated by a ridge of sandstone. The erg to the north is Erg Ubari (also called Awbari), while the one to the south is Erg Murzuq (also called Murzuk).

The large, circular brown area in the midst of the Libyan Desert, south of the Mediterranean Sea, is the Haruj Volcanic Field. The field stretches over 45000 km2 in the central part of the country.

To the east and southeast of the Haruj are two large ergs, or sand dune seas, separated by a ridge of sandstone. The erg north of the mountains is Erg Ubari (also called Awbari), while the one to the south is Erg Murzuq (also called Murzuk).

This view of central and southern Libya shows an interesting contrast in landscape, between seas of high sand dunes called “ergs” and volcanic fields and mountain ranges.

Two ergs are visible here in the left portion of the image: the Erg Ubari (also called Awbari) and the Erg Murzuq (also called Murzuk). The Erg Ubari is more reddish in color and is located just above the center. It is separated from the Erg Murzuq by a swath of dark brown Nubian sandstone. Below this outcrop, the Erg Murzuq is partially covered by clouds.

On the right side of the image, at the top, the Haruj volcanic field is visible as a dark brown area, which in fact spreads across 45,000 km2 (17,000 sq mi) of central Libya. It contains about 150 volcanoes, including numerous basaltic scoria cones and about 30 small shield volcanoes, along with craters and lava flows.

South of the Haruj is another dark brown area: the Tibesti Mountains, a group of dormant volcanoes forming a mountain range in the central Sahara desert. The northern slopes extend a short distance into southern Libya, though the majority of the range is in northern Chad. These mountains are the largest and highest range in the Sahara.